Murphy gets mentor's role in Glasgow

Karen Murphy will continue her amazing career with a fourth Commonwealth Games appearance for Australia at the Glasgow Games in July.

The 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games pairs gold medallist is Australia's most experienced player, having made her Commonwealth Games debut in 1998 - claiming a silver medal in the fours - and won silver in the singles in 2002.

Shell Cove-based Murphy will play for Australia in the Bowls World Cup at Warilla from April 8-16 and will assume a leadership role in the 17-strong Australian Commonwealth Games team, who have an average age of 34 in the men's side and just 27 for the women's team.

Aron Sherriff, who played in a memorial event for Jono and Mick Bickerdike at Dapto Citizens earlier this month, heads the men's team with world No 2 Brett Wilkie, who skipped the triples to silver at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Games debutants Matthew Flapper from Victoria and South Australian world champion Wayne Ruediger join Queensland's Nathan Rice in the men's squad.

National coach Steve Glasson said his team aimed to back up the outstanding performance at the 2012 World Championships in which Australia won seven out of a possible eight medals, including five gold.

The performances of the Australian squad over the past two years meant Wiseman Park's Jackaroos squad member Shane Garvey was unable to break into the five-man team.

"Australia have had a successful 18 months or so in international competition but we are under no illusion that the Games competition will be intense and we need to be as prepared as we can," he said.

"The team is unchanged from the one that defeated New Zealand at the recent Trans-Tasman Test, which is testament to the way the team performed at that event recently."